Religion Today 2021 Catalogo

Greetings from the Director
“Wayfarer, there is no path. The path is made by walking “(Antonio Machado)
2020 was a difficult year. We experienced on our very skin the effects of a global pandemic, and the consequent
health emergency that affected the whole country. We had a very tough lockdown in spring, and after the summer
reopening a second violent wave hit Italy without us being really ready to face it. Airplanes remained on the
ground, trains traveled with reduced capacity, highways were deserted, city traffic became an ancient myth. The
little tourism that delighted us in the summer was out of town, but within our borders. We moved mainly by car
and went not far. It was as if, all of a sudden, our horizons had narrowed and distances lengthened. Traveling has
become a chimera, like tourism, and for a short time even walking outdoors, walking the dog, or buying cigarettes
have all become a sort of pilgrimage to escape the oppression of the four domestic walls. In a time that forced us to
stand still, that left our suitcases empty, without check-in, without tickets, without airports and crowded streets,
we have had the time to look inside, reflect on the condition of humanity, whole, now united in the urgency of a
common response to this evil. Twelve months almost without planes and ships, without passing customs, except
for the very close ones. Rome, like many other pilgrim cities, was empty and silent. A stand-by that involved the
whole planet, forcing people to stay still, not to travel - only a very few for work reasons. And while planes carried
teams of doctors and nurses from one part of the globe to the other, we normal people could only travel with our
imagination, attached to our luminous screens, looking for that depth of encounter with the “different,” getting to
know and meeting new neighbours, cashiers, pharmacists. And our “pilgrimages” ended a bit there. A time when
even churches, mosques, synagogues have had to close their doors and faith spaces have moved online, alongside
the dimension of travel, now only virtual. In the midst of the second wave, the scientific committee of the festival
decided to dedicate the event to travel and pilgrimage, with the hope that soon this evil will be defeated and we can
return to traveling, to seeing the world, and encountering diversity. Our festival, like a pilgrim, packs the rucksacks
and sets out to seek answers to the questions of its faith, because he/she needs a bigger and stronger faith, to
rediscover him/herself and those values which lay a little dormant after these months of loneliness and discomfort.
The theme of travel and pilgrimage is transversal across all faiths and beliefs that populate the earth. Just think
of the great Camino de Santiago or the countless European itineraries of Christians which led to Rome, think of
Lourdes, Medjugore, Loreto today. It is a pillar of Islam with millions of faithful persons travelling to Mecca. It is
very important in Buddhism, with the many paths dedicated to the sacred places of the Buddha. For Judaism, in
ancient times there was an obligation to go on pilgrimage to the temple, and today to the wailing wall. A life, that
of the pilgrim, which encounters the world and other faith. Think also of Jerusalem, a sacred city and a destination
for pilgrims of all Abrahamic religions. Pilgrims to the Holy Land often find themselves meeting Jews, Christians,
Muslims, and tourists from all over the world, with mass tourism intertwining with the routes of the faithful. This
year, the festival that hopes for recovery wants to get back on the road, faithful to its wandering soul, and reflect
with the public and the many international guests on the power of the journey of faith, experienced precisely as
a discovery and encounter not only of other faiths, but of a deeper and more authentic spirituality. This is the
meaning of our search: a journey aimed at exploring and creating oneself, not the quick landing on mainstream
answers. We propose this usual journey through the differences after a year of closure and apathy. Let’s get back
on the road with a rucksack full of hope, ready for a necessary confrontation with the other realities that make up
the mosaic of today’s society, wounded by an unprecedented health emergency, but in which solidarity and heroism
are on the agenda to defeat the virus of selfishness.
Andrea Morghen
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